Touch (Coda Divergence)
by AlisaRB
Summary: Everything remains the same, but everything changes.
1. Let me fall inside, lying on my back

**A/N: This was intended to be a one-shot, but I said: no. It's not going to be a very long story either, but it's just an idea that popped into my head the other day and I knew I had to write it. Title from "Shallows", by Daughter.**

* * *

At the beginning, she didn't even know what was going on in that hallway. She could see her family in front of her. Rick, Tyreese, Sasha… Daryl. She thought her heart would come out of her chest as soon as she spotted him standing there, next to Rick. Her legs even faltered for a second, but she forced herself to breathe deeply and keep moving Carol's wheel chair, inhaling the stuffiness.

Even though it was the middle of the day there was barely any light. The windows seemed to be permanently dirty, even though Dawn always made sure that someone cleaned them up. The scarce light in the hallway avoided Beth from analyzing everyone's facial expressions. She didn't need to see her family's faces, for example, for she knew their reactions, and how they would be looking at those who had taken their people. However, she had to keep an eye on Dawn and her own people…

"Two of your people and two of ours" Rick said coldly. Dawn watched him for a second before she nodded and gestured so they could let Beth and Carol move. Beth, even though she wanted to look calm and strong, couldn't help but walk a bit too fast to get to the other side. Almost at the same time, two police guards were freed and they walked towards their group too. Beth could recognize them both: the woman was usually kinder, but they were both just dumbasses who didn't know what to do without following orders. Even in their moments of bravado they had needed some kind of leader to guide their wants of power.

She felt Daryl's big and warm hand rest on her shoulder, and she looked at him and smiled before she covered his hand with her own. Actually, her wishes went further than that: she wanted to throw herself in his arms and hug him tightly, apologize to him for leaving him that night, ask him if he was right, if everything was right, if he spent a lot of time alone, tell him that she was who had missed him so damn bad, that she knew he'll always hold on, she wanted…

She wanted too many things, but she couldn't do any of them now. She was free though. She could do all of it once they were out of that place.

She saw Tyreese helping Carol to stand up, and then she spotted Noah. He was in the background, so she hadn't seen him at first. Beth smiled warmly at him. She wanted to ask him if he was okay too, but it was like the words had died in her throat. It had been a while since she had talked and talked. She knew better than talking too much. It always got her in trouble.

Rick nodded and they all turned around to come back outside.

She was going to leave.

She was going to be with her family again.

She was free.

"Now I just need Noah".

They all froze. Beth had her gaze fixed on the floor in front of her; like she was trying to make sure her mind hadn't tricked her. Slowly, she turned around and realized her whole family was staring daggers at Dawn.

"The deal's done" Rick answered in a calm tone that didn't leave any room for reply. She realized Dawn had to swallow hard before she spoke.

"Noah was my assistant, and Beth replaced him. You take them both, and I lose" the woman answered, raising her chin as if to convince herself that she was controlling the situation. Noah started to move as soon as the police guards behind Dawn tensed, but then Daryl placed a hand on his chest and stopped him.

"He's not stayin'" he grunted, and this time it was Beth who gulped. She watched the scene astonished. Her heart was thundering so hard and her hands were shaking slightly and a drop of cold sweat slid down the back of her neck until it reached her polo.

"It's okay" Noah said then, moving away Daryl's hand with gentleness. Beth's heart skipped a beat when she saw him walking towards Dawn.

"No!" she exclaimed, running towards her friend. She felt Daryl behind her, trying to stop her, but she reached Noah and held him tightly. She buried her face in his shoulder and tried somehow to convince him silently not to stay. He couldn't do that. Not after how much they'd fought to come back home.

"I knew he'd be back" Dawn said. Beth's eyes fluttered open and she pierced her. She had never stared at someone with so many hate. She just wanted Dawn dead. Keeping her tears at bay, she moved her fingers slowly to the inside of her cast, trying to reach the scissors…

"I get it now" she muttered. Her hand flew and the scissors perforated Dawn's shoulder with a surprising softness.

"Beth!" Daryl screamed behind her, and suddenly a shot. She felt like someone had suddenly blindfolded her. She could hear everything, but she wasn't aware of what was going on in front of her.

The same police man who they had just freed raised a gun –Beth wondered for a millisecond when had he gotten it- and pulled the trigger; then she heard the shot piercing the air, and a strange warm soaking her. Something inside her clenched right before the dead weight fell over her.

And then she couldn't even hear anything.

Her knees hit the floor when she saw Daryl's inert body fall down, blood surging from his head and staining the floor tiles.

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 **A/N: To be continued. Of course.**

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	2. I should go now quietly

**A/N: As you can see, chapters are going to be very brief. I think it's better to have brief chapters that move forward and are dynamic instead of looooong chapters that actually tell nothing. Thanks for all the favs and follows and comments, you're awesome! I know the first chapter didn't look pretty hopeful so thanks for having faith in this story!**

 **The chapter's title is from "Smother", by Daughter. Every chapter will have a lyric from one of their songs as a title because it's a great band and I'm in love.**

* * *

There was a moment when Beth couldn't distinguish red from the rest of the colors. Blood was soaking everything, and the silence was so deafening that she could hear every single sound inside her.

"Daryl" she muttered, her voice cracking almost instantly. She dragged herself towards him and placed a shaking hand on his cheek, "Daryl".

She was so focused on him that she wasn't paying attention to what was going on around her, so she didn't see Rick taking a step forward and raising his gun to blow the cop's brains out.

"Don't move" Rick practically _growled_ when Dawn tried to get her pistol. There had never been so much poison in his voice like in that moment.

"I didn't…" she started, but then another gunshot was heard, and Dawn's lifeless body fell to the floor beside Daryl. Everyone looked at Beth, who was still holding the gun which had finished the woman's life. Her eyes were full of hate, and tears stained her face.

"Beth" Carol murmured, approaching her, but then Beth shook her head violently and turned around, pointing at her with the gun to make her back up, "He's gone".

"He's _not_ gone" she countered, her voice husky and harsh. She turned her head towards Grady's people and fixed her gaze on the doctor, who was hiding in between the crowd, "C'mere. Now!" she shouted, pointing at him now. Edwards raised both hands in surrender and was practically pushed towards her, "You're a doctor, and you're supposed to save lives. Save him".

The doctor seemed to hesitate, but with a gun so close to his head seemed to dissuade him from refusing right away.

"Beth…" Sasha sobbed behind her.

"COME ON!" it was like a signal for Edwards, who immediately bent down, being followed by the gun. Beth tried to pay attention to the doctor's moves while he treated Daryl, but she felt like everything was _too much_ : her heartbeats, and the blood, and the dim light, and the people, and the shivers running through her body, and the pain piercing her, and…

Edward's face turned from focus to absolute astonishment.

"He's alive" he muttered. The arm Beth used to hold the gun faltered for a second and landed on the floor. It was that sound what made the doctor react, "Hurry up, bring a stretcher!"

Beth felt like she couldn't breathe. The air just wouldn't get to her lungs. However, she moved away quickly as soon as two guards brought the stretcher and lifted him from the floor, leaving a pool of blood which looked almost deep enough to swim in it.

She got up in a second, like her body was acting on its accord, ignoring her state of shock, and she held onto a side of the stretcher to go with them as they moved. She pretended she didn't notice the paleness of his usually tanned face, or the blood still surging from the back of his head.

They got to the same room in where Edwards had once helped Carol, and it was then when he turned around to look at her.

"I need y'all gone right now".

"No" she replied immediately, "I'm stayin'".

"I cannot take care of him with people in here!" he countered, but Beth shook her head.

"I can help".

"You're not able to help right now. Larry and Jenny, stay".

"Beth" Tyreese placed a hand on her shoulder, "Let's go".

She hesitated just for an instant, but then she nodded and took a step back. Before she left, though, she grabbed Edward's arm and forced him to look at her in the eye.

"If you hurt him…" she didn't finish the sentence, but it was obvious what she would do to him.

"I'll never do that again" she promised, and she nodded once again before she let Tyreese take her out to the hallway.

And being there, surrounded by her family, was just as suffocating as being between strangers again.

How could have such a wonderful moment gone so bad?

Hours went by and they still didn't know anything. Carol sat on the floor and Tyreese went with her, giving her water and making sure she wasn't too worn out, even though she kept saying she was fine. Sasha and Rick, on the other side, didn't let their guards down for a second, and kept their guns close while they glazed at every single person who approached them. Beth and Noah were the two people who were closest to the door, and even if she could feel his looks at her, she kept staring at the door.

"Here" he said suddenly, handing her a rag, "You should clean up a bit".

"Huh?" she answered. Noah pointed at her, and when she lowered her eyes, she found out that she was covered in blood. It was like coming back to the day they had forced her to hold Joan down while they cut off her arm. There had been so much blood, and the screams…

"C'mere" Noah murmured, taking her hands and wiping them out efficiently but with gentleness. She just let him, too tired to protest. It had been too many hours, and the initial relief of knowing that Daryl was still alive had been replaced by anguish for not being able to be there with him, "He's gonna be fine" he added quietly, "He's tough".

She nodded automatically, even though the knot in her chest was still tight.

"He didn't stop lookin' for you" he kept going, focused on his task, "He saved me even though he didn't have to. And as soon as he found out I'd been here he asked me 'bout you. He's good people. And today not a single good person is gonna die".

Beth swallowed hard to get rid of the thickness in her throat, of the storm that tried to explode in her eyes again. She couldn't keep crying.

"Done" Noah concluded, dropping her hands, which were now slightly pink.

"Thank you" Beth whispered, and he nodded, knowing that she didn't mean just her hands.

The door opened and Edwards came out, closing it after him and taking off his gloves. They all turned their heads brusquely and stared at him, expectant. Beth stopped breathing.

"He'll recover" Edwards announced. Even without turning around, Beth felt her family deflating of relief, "He's not totally safe, though, but it seems like the bullet didn't perforated any vital area. That… never happens" the doctor finished, scratching his head.

"I wanna see 'im" Beth said then.

"He's not conscious".

"I don't care" she replied, "I'm not gonna leave him again".

"A'right, a'right" he gave in, raising both hands, "We're gonna move in to a room and then you can stay with him as long as you want, deal?"

Even though she wanted to see him right away, she knew he was right and nodded once.

Another while went by until Daryl was in a proper room, a thick bandage covering his head. He was breathing through a respirator, and the monitors were making soft noises that kind of soothed Beth. She had sat beside him and she hadn't let go of his hand for a second since she'd entered the room. The sun had already set, and her family had been rotating to convince her about leaving for a bit to rest, but she had refused over and over again, even when Rick told her that Maggie was there and wanted to see her. She was not going to leave his side.

"I dunno if you can hear me" she whispered into the darkness, "but I'm here. I'm here" and squeezed his hand.

She rested her forehead against their intertwined hands and forced herself to think about anything except for what had happened a few hours ago, what had brought them there. About her stupid last-minute decision of stabbing Dawn, about that cop shooting Daryl. She shook her head and got rid of the tears angrily.

She had to keep faith for him.

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 **A/N:** **Hey, he's alive! Fangirls, you can already drop your tomatoes, I'd be the first one to riot if Daryl died. Besides, what I hated the most about Coda (IGNORING THAT THEY SHOT MY PRECIOUS BETH) was how absurd and OOC it was. Well...**

 **Thank you so much for reading this. Please leave a comment, I care about your opinion! If you liked it, why don't you click on the favorite button? And if you want to know what's going to happen next, follow this story!**


	3. One day soon I'll lose my mind

**A/N: I'm fina** **lly back! I'm so glad. I wanted to translate this chapter asap, but I had some technical problems and my laptop was shit. But here I am. Please ignore and forgive any possib** **le mistakes and enjoy!**

 **Tit** **le from "Doing the right thing" by Daughter.**

 **Disc** **laimer: TWD or its characters are none of my property. Unfortunately.**

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The first lights of the day woke Beth up. She raised her head slowly, moving the fingers from the hand holding Daryl's to make the blood start moving again through her limb. She swallowed and looked at Daryl, who was still unconscious. Even though she didn't expect anything else (not like she believed he was going to miraculously recover) she couldn't help the tug inside her chest just by watching him breathing through a machine, with that thick bandage around his head.

She turned as soon as she heard the door open, but it was Michonne.

"Mornin'" the woman greeted her. Beth nodded tiredly and moved again towards the man. Beth returned her hand where it belonged, intertwined with the hunter's. She didn't need it right now for anything else, "Do you want a takeover?"

"No, thanks" the girl answered automatically.

"You should rest" Michonne told her with gentleness.

"I've already slept".

They came back to silence. Beth didn't know what Michonne was doing, but then she moved and found the woman in front of the window, watching outside the orange sky.

"You know? You don't need to worry so much" Michonne suddenly said. Beside her, Beth felt Daryl's hand twitch almost imperceptibly, a reflect act of his unconsciousness, "Daryl's tough".

"It doesn't have anything to do with that" Beth replied, "It's my fault that he's like this".

Michonne huffed.

"Well, I've heard it's not his first time being shot" she commented nonchalantly.

Beth's mind flew back to the farm; to the day she had seen those men arrive carrying a badly injured Daryl. She remembered how her hands had shaken slightly as she had brought her daddy the medical instrumentals. And she couldn't forget the scars of his back. Beth didn't need to be a genius to know what they were. Her daddy's dad hadn't been a man who chose words over violence.

"If you wanna get out of here for a bit, just call. You don't have to do this on your own" Michonne tried to convince her once again.

"I _want_ to be here. And I owe him that. He should've let that man shoot me" Beth whispered. Michonne sighed.

"When you care about people, hurt is kind of part of the package" and she got out. Beth felt tears prickling her eyes when Michonne quoted her. She used to talk so easily back at the prison, when she was guarded by fences. She heard the door shut again and she wanted to turn around. She wanted to answer that the package didn't include him receiving a bullet for her. That Daryl's life or Michonne's didn't mean the same for the group than hers. She wanted to, because for a very long time she had really believed it.

But she forced herself to keep her eyes on Daryl. She forced herself to breathe deeply, to be calm.

 _I am strong._

* * *

Her family had been going in and out for the rest of the day, to visit Daryl or to bring her food and convince her to go and get some rest. But she had refused stubbornly every single time. In one of those occasions, Maggie had come in and tried to force her to get out. But then, Edwards appeared and Beth got rid of Maggie's grasp with brusqueness. They stared at each other for what it seemed like an eternity, trying to recognize each other, to find just a spark of what they had left as sisters. Beth had opened her mouth and she was about to say something, anything. And then the doctor said that Daryl was recovering and Beth just couldn't pay attention to anything else. In those moments, Daryl was her priority.

 _Daryl would always be her priority._

* * *

Beth realized that spending so much time in that room, listening just to the rhythmic and almost somniferous respirator made her recall. And the sound of the respirator suddenly transformed into the sound of the soft breeze that refreshed them one afternoon when it was just the two of them. They were both feeling good-humored. For the first time since they'd lost their family. It had been weeks (the same since they'd burnt down the cabin) since Beth had hummed some song, and Daryl didn't try to silence her with a dirty look or a grunt. Everything was calm.

"Do you really think we'll find 'em?" she had asked suddenly, stopping in the middle of the forest. Daryl, who was a few steps ahead, had also stopped and looked at her over his shoulder for a second.

"Can't be the only ones around here" had been his only response, and they both resumed their walking.

"They might have tried to get away. You know, maybe go further north" another grunt, but she hadn't been offended, "There's more chances to find another safe place".

"Hm-mm" Daryl had murmured absently, his eyes fixed on a trail, but she knew he was listening intently to her. He was always listening.

"If we found another track and took us far away, you'd have something to cross off the list. You'd be out of Georgia" and she had giggled softly. Daryl had turned his head slightly and a hint of smile seemed to appear on his lips.

"It'd be okay".

* * *

Beth was so absorbed that she hadn't even realized it was dusking. The orange light was staining the walls again, and the wind of that afternoon had returned to being just the respirator. Beth moved her eyes towards Daryl and smiled weakly.

"You have no idea how much I missed you being grumpy" Beth laughed, tears flooding in her eyes, "I miss all the time we spent together. I miss the moonshine, and the fire, and the woods. I miss our crossbow lessons and even sleeping on the freezing ground, and eating snake. Snake is so much better than guinea pig, I assure you" another shaky laugh and one tear sliding down her cheek, "I miss singing just for you. I miss _us_. God, you don't know how much. It was me who missed you so bad when you were gone, Daryl Dixon. I'd give anything to go back".

And she dropped her head to the mattress, holding his hand tightly, not caring anymore if she cried or not. She just couldn't help it. She wanted to go home. And her home was Daryl.

She felt another twitch of his hand. Beth sniffed and squeezed his hand.

Twitch.

Beth opened her eyes.

"Hey" Daryl grunted so softly.

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 **A/N: C** **liffhanger, cliffhanger! Kinda...? Still, I hoped you liked it! Please leave a review, I want to know what you think! If you're liking this story, why don't you add it to your favourites or follow it?**

 **Thank you so much for reading!**


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